"Look at me." Zayn grabbed her free hand. "Focus on me."

Emma met his eyes.

"He’s going to be okay," Zayn said confidently. "We’re going to the best hospital in the city. They’ll take care of him. But I need you to breathe. Can you do that?" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Emma tried but struggled. She made another attempt.

Zayn squeezed her hand. "Breathe with me. In," he inhaled slowly, "and out."

Emma followed along. In. Out. In. Out.

"Good," Zayn said softly. "Keep it going."

The drive lasted ten minutes—ten minutes of Emma holding her dad’s hand while Zayn held hers, and none of them saying a word because there was nothing to say.

*****

The hospital’s emergency entrance was all set up for them when they arrived.

As soon as they pulled in, medical staff rushed over. They quickly got Alexander onto a gurney. Emma tried to keep up, but a nurse gently stopped her.

"Let us check him first," the nurse said. "You can see him once we know more."

Emma looked lost and overwhelmed.

Zayn smoothly intervened. "We’ll be right here. Just take care of him."

They wheeled Alexander away.

Emma stood in the middle of the emergency room, still crying and looking like she might collapse.

Zayn guided her to a chair in the waiting area. "Just sit here."

She did.

He sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "He’s going to be okay."

"You can’t know that," she replied.

"Yes, I can," Zayn said smoothly, even though it wasn’t true. "Your dad is tough, and he wouldn’t leave you. Okay?"

Emma leaned against him. "I was so mad when he left that note and didn’t call for two days. I was so angry with him."

"That’s totally normal," Zayn reassured her.

"But what if..." Her voice shook. "What if those were the last two days, and I wasted them being mad?"

"They weren’t the last two days," Zayn said firmly. "He’s going to wake up, and you’re going to yell at him for scaring you. Then everything will be fine."

Emma didn’t seem convinced.

Ten minutes went by.

Fifteen.

Twenty.

Finally, a doctor walked out of the examination room.

Emma and Zayn both jumped up immediately.

The doctor, a middle-aged woman with kind eyes, looked at them. "Are you the family of Alexander Kane?"

"Yeah," Emma said. "I’m his daughter. Is he—"

"He’s stable," the doctor cut in gently. "There’s no need to panic."

Emma nearly collapsed with relief as Zayn kept his arm around her.

"What happened?" Zayn asked.

"Exhaustion," the doctor explained. "He’s severely sleep-deprived and under extreme stress. He’s also showing signs of depression, like high cortisol levels and an irregular heartbeat. His body basically shut down to make him rest."

"Is he awake?" Emma wanted to know.

"Not yet," the doctor said. "He’s in and out of it. When he wakes up a bit, he keeps saying a name. Emma. Over and over."

He was calling for me.

The doctor looked at Emma. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," Emma whispered.

Zayn felt a tightness in his chest. Alexander, lying unconscious in a hospital bed, was so distressed that he was calling for his daughter.

The man really did love her.

This made things more complicated for Zayn because he knew what Alexander really was and what he’d done—the blood on his hands.

But looking at Emma now, seeing how scared she was and how much she cared for her dad, he realized that when the truth came out, it would shatter her.

"Can I see him?" Emma asked.

"Soon," the doctor promised. "We just want to keep an eye on him for another hour to make sure he’s stable. But yes, you’ll get to see him."

"Thanks," Emma said quietly.

The doctor nodded and walked off.

Emma sank back into her chair, hiding her face in her hands.

Zayn sat next to Emma, pulling her in close. "See? I told you he’d be alright."

"He looked really down," Emma said quietly. "When I found him, he seemed... broken."

Zayn kissed the top of her head. "He was probably just super tired. Sometimes, when we don’t get enough sleep, everything feels worse than it really is."

Emma nodded against his shoulder but didn’t say anything.

Zayn scanned the room; the waiting area was mostly empty. His guards were near the entrance, trying to stay low-key.

"Stay right here," he said softly. "I’m just going to make a quick call. I’ll be back soon, okay?"

Emma nodded without looking up.

Zayn stood up and walked down the hall until he was out of earshot.

Once there, he pulled out his phone and texted Zayden.

"Alexander Kane just collapsed. Emma called me. We’re at the hospital. He’s stable but unconscious — severe exhaustion and stress. He keeps calling Emma’s name. The doc says depression. Something isn’t right with him."

He hesitated, then added:

"He really loves her. I saw it. No matter what else is going on, he loves his daughter."

Send.

Zayn stared at his phone for a bit.

Then a new message came through. Not from Zayden.

It was from a random number.

Zayn opened it.

One line read, "Alexander Kane knows more than you think. And so do we. Watch your back, Virelli."

Zayn’s heart dropped.

He quickly looked up, scanning the empty hospital corridor.

It was clear.

But someone was watching.

Someone knew he was there.

Someone knew about Alexander.

And someone was making a threat.

He took a quick screenshot, deleted the message immediately, and slipped his phone back into his pocket before returning to Emma.

She glanced up when he sat down. "Everything cool?"

"Yeah," Zayn lied, wrapping his arm around her again. "All good."

But he couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling as he looked around the waiting room, searching for any signs of trouble, trying to find whoever sent that message.

If someone was watching him, if they knew he was with Emma, if they knew about Alexander...

Then things were about to get a lot riskier.

This wasn’t over.